Method of treating vegetable-ivory nuts.



J. C. DENNBY.'

METHOD 0F TREATING VBGETABLE IVORY NUTS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 9,1912,

1,053, l 62. Patented Feb. 18, 1913.

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JOHN o. DENNEY, or POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK, AssIaNon. 'ro SENECA vBU'r'rON cOMrANg-or POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION or NEW YORK..

METI'IOD OF TREATING VEGETABLE-IVORY' NUTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 9, 1,912. Serial No. 670,180. i

Patented Feb. 18, 1913.

T0 all wiz-0m tt may concern Be it known that I, JOHN C. DENNEY, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Poughkeepsie, in the county ofv Dutchess,v

State of New York, have invented Certain new andy useful Improvements in Methods of Treating Vegetable-Ivory Nuts, of which the following is a specification.

The dry and hardened kernel of the corozo nut, known as vegetable ivory from its resemblance'to natural ivory, has been extensively used for many years in the,

manufactureof buttons. The se ivory nuts vare grown principally in South America.,

T hey grow four or fivein a cluster with four or five clusters in a, bur, eachnut, when ripe having a thin and4 very hard shell which must be removed.A The only method heretofore in use, sol far as known to me, has been by drying the nut and then subjecting the dried nuts to the action of a tumbling barrel, andthe greatest problem with which manufacturers have to deal is fto dry the nuts in such. manner that the waste becauseof'cracking of the kernel, due to its unequal contraction duringdrying, will be reduced to a minimum. If dried too .rapidly the kernelV will crack so that`the block from which the buttons are out, known as a slab, is .suitable Only-for buttons of relatively small size. Vario'us methods of dryv ing havebeenpractised, among them being drying in steam heated rooms; h ot air kilns;

or by spreading in thin layers and blowing air at atmospheric Atemperature over them. The last named' method is that'preferred-as it gives a more natural Vdrying than the Others.4 All these prior methods are, how-Y ever, relatively expensive as they require the keeping on hand of a -large stock of nuts, extensive space for drying, 4and the time required varies from two vto eight weeks.

In the center of the nut is a' smallpocket filled with Huid. This pocket dries'out or .hardens with age and in the drying of the nuts by natural orartificial means the kernelv contracts unequally around this pocket causing the kernel to crack .and even with the most approved methods, the. unequal contraction of the kernel causes it to crack to such an extent as to materially add to the' cost of the manufactured articles because of the waste, and furthermore makes it practicallyimpossible to'obtain a,l suiicient supply Of sound kernels to fill the demand'for .buttons of large size. Moreover present4 7 departure from. prior methods and is de: f

signed to effect the removal of the Yshell in a few seconds of time, and with the highly advantageous result of doing so with lpractically no physicalwchange in the kernel, sol

that the latter is obtained in its whole and natural condition Wit-hout` shrinkagel and therefore without the lfaults incident to the drying method of removing the shell. This result is accomplished by subjecting the.

nuts to the action of heat of such tempera,

ture, in the presence of oxygen, as 'to completely or partially burn the shell from the kernel. Any convenient form of furnace being shown in the accompanying drawings Fig. 2 .the transverse sect-ion onL- the plane of the line 2-2of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3, a view of a tumbling vbarrel which may be employed for'removal of the charred shells.v

rectangular chamber 1 mounted Aupon suitable supports and open to the atmosphere at .both ends. "F.Or'the purpose of conveying the nuts through the furnace I provide an 'endless chain or belt 2 of convenientcon- .structionv which is adapted to# pass around sprocket Wheels?) and-4. Sprocket wheel 3 is driven by any suitable power. -Thenuts are delivered-'to the ehaincarrier fromla' -may be employed for the purpose, oneform 1,85 The furnace` shown by me comprises a .hopper 5 and as they pass through'the fur` nace are subjected to the'action of the heat therein produced by oil or gas .burners 6.

The burners.y may be so placed that the. flames therefrom impinge upon the shells ofthe nuts ifdesired; The furnace being open at both ends an abundant supply of :oxygen is admitted for thecoinbustion of the shell. The nuts upon leaving the furnacev ldrop into a suitable' receptacle '7. The temperature 'and' the time of passage of the nuts through the furnace aresoregulated as to' ee'ct the burning o of Ythe s charring the kernels, and to prevent the 'heat penetrating the kernelspto any appreells Without ciable extent. In practice, I haveiused Aa temperature varying from 800 to 1200o F., the time varying from ten to twenty seconds.

The temperature and the time,` however,

may be readily determined according to the size and condition of the nuts. After the lremoval of the shells, the reen kernels'are cut or sawed into slabs an the slabs dried.

They are then used for the manufacture of buttons in a well-known man-ner. 4

Although the ideal .condition would be to remove the shell by burning it off com pletely, it is not possible, under-ordinary plete combustion of the shells; perature and the volume 4of air may be so working conditions to effect the desired resulton all of the nuts, even when the temperature and the volume of oxygen are so regulated-with that end in view. If any .portion of the shell remains on a kernel after the nut passes through the furnace it is so charred that it may be removed by hand or by the action of a tumbling barrel.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a form of tumbling barrel which may be employed. This, as,

regulated as not to effect complete combustion of the entire shell but to char the shells so that they may bey removed by the action of a tumbling barrel, or in any other suitable manner.' By either method, that is by complete or partialcombustion of the shell, the kernel is not materially affected by the heat and I am enabled to obtain it in itsy natural condition from which green slabs may be sawed with a minimum of waste andV at a great increase in the proportion of slabs for buttons of large size.

Under the old dryingv method the larger factories carried on hand many thousands of dollars worth of raw material at all. times, this being necessary on account of the crackage of the nuts by that method.

YThe present method effects a saving of at least 50 per centfin the amount of raw material required to be carried on hand, and in the space necessary for storage. But most important of 'all is the saving due to the lessening of kcrackage and the ability to obtain soun-d kernels of largesize. Another distinct advantage is that the kernels may be sawed into slabs when-in a green condition. In fact I regard the ability to do so as one of the most important incidents to the new method of treatment as by it the slabs may be dried naturally by spreading them upon trays kept in a room at the temperature of vthe atmosphere, giving a uniform drying iso\that a finer grain is obtained than can be obtained by previous methods. That is, I

am enabled to dry the raw material for the buttons in the form of slabs instead of drying the kernel as a whole as heretofore.

What I claim and desire to secure by lLet- 'ters Patent of the United States, is

l. The method of treating vegetable ivory nuts consisting in subjecting them to the application of heat to aifect the shell only for removing the same `from the kernel.

2. The method of treating vedetable ivory, nuts consisting in subjecting t em to heat, in the presence of oxygen, sufficient to char or burn off the shells.

3. The method of treating vegetable ivory nuts consisting in subjecting them to heat for about ten to twenty seconds, in the presence of oxygen, to char or burn off the shells.

4. The method of treating vegetable ivory nuts consisting in subjecting them to the heat of a furnace varying between 800 and .-12000 F., in the presence of oxygen suliicient Jto char orvburn off the shells.

5. The method of treating vegetable ivory nuts consisting in subjecting them to heat in the presence of oxygen sulicient to char or burn olf the shells, and tumbling the nuts to remove any portions of the shells which may remain attached to the kernels.

In testimony whereof I "have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN C. DENNEY.

f IVitnesses: Gmo. V. L. SPRATT, A. S. GARLAND. 

